Oilers coach Knoblauch calls the team stale, makes major changes

Currently on a fourteen game win streak and now also signing veteran Corey Perry, on the outside the Edmonton Oilers seem to be riding high. Inside the locker room however, Coach Knoblauch is seeing trends he doesn't approve of. Today, he made a note that he thinks the team is getting ‘stale', and made major changes to the lineup.

Now heading into tonight's game against the league-worst Chicago Blackhawks, Knoblauch is making huge changes to the lineup. He's reuniting Draisaitl and McDavid on the top line with Hyman, and asking Nugent-Hopkins and Kane to drive play on their own second line. Brown and Holloway have also been moved up to the third line, and Calvin Pickard will start in net. Only the defence pairings remain intact.




It's sweeping changes from Knoblauch at a time where the results have been fantastic, but the Coach clearly has his finger on the pulse of the dressing room and is trying to shake up the team before a they get rattled by a loss.

With the new-look lines and backup goalie Calvin Pickard in net, the Oilers should still be able to extend the streak to 15 games against the Blackhawks - but no game is easily won in the NHL. The Oilers will still need to respond to Knoblauch's shake up, and win the games they have in front of them.